Tools available to US regulators to deal with a failed derivatives central counterparty are far more limited than those available to unwind distressed banks, the Treasury Department's Office of Financial Research says in a report. Although clearinghouses are required to write wind-down plans, there aren't any sanctions if regulators deem those plans inadequate, the report says.

Derivatives post-trade processing platform truePTS, a spinoff of trueEX, has signed Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase as its first bank clients. "These two banks are adding to our network, rather than replacing any other technology, and like every other part of financial services, we expect multiple providers for processing services," said truePTS CEO Zohar Hod.

As investors await Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's expected announcement of a final interest-rate increase this year, they will be more interested in any hints on the pace of rate increases in 2018 and the central bank's forecast for how proposed tax cuts would affect the economy. "While the tax package is not a game changer, it does add more confidence that the Fed can keep going" with rate increases, said Brett Ryan, senior US economist at Deutsche Bank Securities.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has said that firms, including futures commission merchants and swaps dealers, will not have to register as commodity trading advisers when they receive a separate payment for research. The CFTC said that registration as a CTA is required only if advice is not "solely incidental" to a firm's business.

This conference will begin by reviewing key events that led to benchmark reforms, the IOSCO principles on which the reforms are based and the proposed reforms from the Financial Stability Board (FSB). In addition to strengthening existing benchmarks, authorities have been encouraging market participants to develop alternative risk-free rates and to designate fallbacks for documents still referencing IBORs. The day will conclude with discussion of EU regulation on financial benchmarks, including the regulatory timeline, scope, governance, transparency, recognition of non-EU benchmarks, Asia-Pacific benchmarks and the ISDA 2017 Benchmarks Supplement. REGISTER: Financial Benchmarks on Feb. 7 in Singapore